Device for transmitting and receiving electric calls



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J. CURRIER.

DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ELECTRIC CALLS Patented Dec. 20

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DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ELECTRIC CALLS.

No. 251,097. Patented Dec. 20,1881

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4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

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DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ELBGTRIU CALLS. No. 251,097.Patented Dec. ZQfiPl.

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' alarm device.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB B. CURRIER, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ELECTRIC CALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,097, dated December20, 1881.

' Application filed November 10, 71879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JACOB B. CURRIER, ofLowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Devices for Transmitting and ReceivingElectric (Jails, of which the following is a specification.

The object of myin vention is to improve upon mechanisms constructed togive an alarm or call at any desired station on an electric circuitwithout sounding an alarm or call at any other on the circuit. I attainthis object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which Figure 1 is a view, partly in section, of my Fig. 2 is amodification of part of the device shown in Fig.1. Fig. 3 is anelevation of a caller. Fig. 4 is a section upon the line 2 z of Fig. 3.Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of the caller. Fig. 6 isan end view of another modification, of which Fig. 7 is a plan, partlyin section, and Fig. 8 an elevation of the bar shown on the left of Fig.7. Fig. 9 is a caller having a modification in its circuit-breakingdevice. Fig. 10 shows an electric circuit having different stationsprovided with my improved apparatus for sounding an alarm at the stationto be called and for calling such stations from a main or centralstation.

In Fig. 10, Y Y Y represent stations at which an alarm is to be given,and for the details of the construction of the alarm mechanisms theother figures may be consulted. X X represent calling-stations upon saidelectric circuit provided with calling mechanisms. (Shown in detail inother figures.) Z is the battery, and G Gthe ground-connection, of thecircuit.

In Fig. 1, a is aframe, upon which is secured an electro-magnet, A, inthe usual manner. b is an adjustable bar, upon which hangs, atpoint c,the pivot (another being opposite) of the pendulum-striker O, the bar I)being adjusted and held in its position by the spiral spring (I and nute. f is a portion of the case of the complete instrument. g is a screwpassing through the casefinto the frame a, and is used to adjust thedistance between the weight M of the pendulum-striker O and the bell B.The pendulum-striker 0 consists of the armature i, pivoted at its upperend at c, the lower end of the same being connected by ashort,

thin, flexible metallic strip, 70, to a rod, Z, and

weight M. The armature may, however, be placed upon the rod and theflexible strip continued to the point of suspension. I consider,however, the first-described construction the best. The object of thisconstruction is to provide a pendulum which can be made to oscillatethrough any desired are by successive actions of the electro-magnet andits armature if such successive actions are synchronal with the possibleaction of the pendulum, while if such successive actions are not in suchtime the armature will be free to move without augmenting the action ofthe pendulum. It is obvious that this would not be the case if thependulum were connected with its point of suspension by a rigid rod orbar and the armature attached thereto, because in that case the movementof the pendulum would be as great with the first action of theelectro-magnet and its armature as at any subsequent one, and thereforeany current which would affect one elec-.

tro-magnet and alarm device upon a line would affect all.

The pendulum-striker may be divided into two parts, as shown in Fig. 2,without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The caller, as shown by Figs. 3 and 4, com sists of one or moreautomatic, pendulum cir-, cuit-breakers, O B, held in position by screwsR and Q. When more than one circuit-break er is used, each of them to beof a different length, the first circuit-breaker being con-v nectedthrough screw R with one end of the line of an electric circuit, thecurrent passes through the circuit-breaker to plate I, and thence, whenmore than one is used, by a metallic connection to screw R of the secondcircuit-breaker, and so on through any required number to correspondwith the numberot'pendalum-strikers on the line, and finally connectingthe plate I of the last circuit-breaker with the other end of the lineof the circuit. The circuit-breaker when at rest, or nearly so, hangsagainst the plate I, but when given sufficient vibratory motion ittemporarily leaves plate I, and thus breaks the circuit. The plate I isheld in position and adjusted by screws 3 y and spiral spring T. Thecircuitbreaker is put in motion by pushing against point ff.

Fig. 5 is an adjustable pendulum-caller, operating substantially as theone heretofore described, but difi'ering from it in construction asfollows: This caller has but one circuitbreaker, the position of thependulum-weight of which is changed, so as to give the circuitbreakerthe desired pendulum-length. s is a cylinder, by the revolution of whichthe band P is wound or unwound and its attached weight H is raised orlowered. i a is an index-finger whose movement with the cylinderindicates the position of the weight 11, and consequently the variationin the caller corresponding to the several pendulum-strikers on the linein length. V is a device for starting the movement of thecircuit-breaker, and also for holding it in position when at rest. Byquickly and fully pushing in the rod 1' d by pressure upon the end it t,and retaining it in that position a short time, the circuit-breaker iscaused to vibrate during that time.

In Fig. 6, O yis a cylinder whose revolutions are controlled byclock-work. Around the cylinder,and at right angles with its axis, arerows of pins, as at G GG and J J J, thenumber of pinsin arowdifferingeach from the other, and the pins in any one row beingequidistant from each other. 16 is a lever that vibrates upon shaft 0 e,and when at rest presses, by the superior weight of the end (marked t'j)of the lever, against the metallic bar W. This bar h is insulated fromthe other parts of the device by being inserted in the wooden bar f 2,which wooden bar swings at one end upon shaft 0 e, and is supported andadjusted by means of the screw and slot 81) at the other end. The bar Itis connected with one end of the line of an electric circuit, and theshaft 0 c with the other. The lever lo also slides back and forth uponshaft cc, and can be so adjusted andheld in position that it will comein contact with any desired row of pins in the cylinder 0 y. When theposition of the lever to has been so adjusted-as, for instance, row Gand the cylinder O y is caused to revolve-the pin G lifts the end ij ofthe lever to, and separates the lever from the bar 7L2, thus breakingthe electric circuit. After the pin G has reached the position of pin G2the lever falls to its former position, thus completing the circuitagain. The cylinder 0 y being rotated at a regular speed, and the pinsbeing arranged as described,each row will act upon the lever Zeadifferent but definite number of times during any given period, and thelever Z6 will, when operated upon by any one row of pins, make and breakthe circuit in a different interval from that which it does whenoperated upon by any other. The lever l e is retained in position to beoperated upon by any one row of pins desired by the bar at, an elevationof which is seen in Fig. 8, one end of the lever rising and falling inone of the slots marked 1 2 3 4. When it is necessary to change it to beacted upon by another row of pins, the end working in the slotsbeingdepressed, the lever may he slid upon its shaft and allowed to fallinto place with its shorter endin another slot.

. In Fig. 9, U is a pendnlum bar, vibrating upon the shaft 70 y at m ofthe bar, but which may be changed to m or m Instead of changing thepoint of vibration, as above,the weight H may be moved upon the bar, soas to give the required pendulum-lengths, or the number of thependulum-bars on the shaft may be increased at pleasure. r m is an armpivoted at point 0 r, and resting upon the pin 0 t, said pin beingconnected with one end of the line of an electric circuit and thepivot-pin c rwith the other end of the line. When more than onependulum-bar is used a connecting-rod at the end N of the arm 1' m isextended to a similar arm on the opposite side of the device for holdingthe same, in which case the vibration of either of the pendulum-bars Ucauses said bar to strike the connecting-rod instead of the end N of thearm 1" m, and thus breaks the circuit.

The operation of my device may be thus described: Supposing a caller tobe placed at one place upon a circuit, and alarm devices provided withpendulum strikers of different lengths at other and different placesupon the circuit, one of the circuit-breakers of the caller device beingadapted to act synchronall y with but one of the pendulum-strikers. andthe others each with other of the pendulum-strikers, in all of which thevibrations of the pendulum-striker is produced by the action of anelectro-magnet, each one of the circuit-breakers ofthe caller, and thependulum-strikerwith which it acts, will have, when acting eitherindependently or together, the same, or nearly the same, number ofmovements or vibrations in the same time the circuit-breaker of thecaller successively makes and breaks the electric circuit in the timerequired by the pendulum-striker to acquire its greatest motion orforce. When this motion is obtained the pendulum-striker strikes a hellor a device for making an alarm. As no one attractive effort of themagnets will move the pendulum of the strikers sufiticiently to sound analarm, and the times of the recurrence of these efforts correspond withthe ability and capacity of action of but one of the pendulums upon thecircuit, but one of the pendulum-strikers will receive any considerableacceleration to its motion, and as a considerable movement andacceleration of the pendulum of an alarm device is required before thebell will be struck, but one of the bells upon the line will give analarm, and but one call will be given. If, in place of the circuit beingmade and broken by the pendulum direct, the cylinder shown in Fig. 6 beinterposed between it and the circuit, the operation will besubstantially the same, as the regularity and time of the making andbreaking of the current will be the same.

1' am aware of the German Patent No. 1,944, dated December 5, 1877,granted to one Maron,

and I do not claim anything shown or described in the said GermanLetters Patent.

What I claim as new and of my invention 1. The combination, upon anelectric circuit, of twoormoreautomaticcircuit-breakers placed at thesame stations, each of which makes and breaks the circuit in the timerequired to vibrate one of a series of pendulums by its electro-magnet,which pendulums are of different lengths and upon the circuit,substantially as described.

2. The combination of the electro-magnet A and pivoted pendulum-striker0, consisting of the rod 1, made flexible near its upper extremity andprovided with the weight M, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the electro-magnet A and pendulum-striker 0,having its point of support made adjustable with reference to the magnetand bell B, substantially as described.

4.. In combination with an electrical circuit, a series of pendulums ofdifferent lengths, each provided with an electromagnet, and an armaturethereof fixed to the pendulum and moving on the same axis therewith, andeach arranged to separately operate an alarm mechanism by a series ofelectrical impulses passing over the circuit in a given time which doesnot operate the other pend ulums, substantially as described.

5. The pendulum circuit-breaker, in combination with the circuitcontact-point I, substantially as described-that is to say, such thatthe contact-point forms an axis or center about which thecircuit-breaker moves during a portion of its oscillation.

6. In combination with an eleotricalcircuit,a series ofpendulum-strikers of different lengths, each provided with an armaturefixed thereto and moving on the same axis therewith, and anelectro-magnet substantially as describedthat is to say, such that eachstriker is made to actuate its alarm by electrical impulses withoutoperating any of the others.

Witnesses: JACOB B. OURRIER.

LEPINE 0. RICE, I N. P. OOKING'ION.

